Dec 06 2005
Plame Out Of CIA
Hat Tip Michelle Malkin. Many times in DC the game is payback. Simple payback. The ranting on the left about Iraq is payback for Clinton’s 1998 impeachment and Gore’s 2000 loss to Bush. But what about the CIA war against Bush (here, here and here)? Was that payback for Valerie.
I find it strangely coincidental that the CIA leaks regarding our management of top AQ prisoners is happening at the same time Valerie is heading out the door.
Valerie Plame, the diplomat’s wife whose secret resume was exposed in a newspaper column that eventually led to the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, is leaving the CIA on Friday, people familiar with her plans said.
Is she going quietly, of her own volition? I doubt it. I was surprised she hung in this long, after her idiotic husband exposed her and her cover. The media loves to blame Bush, but Wilson outed his wife, with her knowledge since she most likely was Joe’s confirmation source to Kristof and Pincus. But what happened? Well, one of her wierder compatriots has some ideas
“She did not have a career left,” said Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA officer and a friend of Plame since the two were in the same agency training class in the 1980s. “She was no longer able to work as a clandestine officer, which was her reason for being.”
Johnson said that although Plame still had allies at the agency, her ability to function effectively was irreparably harmed after her status became publicly known.
“She is either a non-entity or radioactive,” Johnson said. “Getting connected with her is not something that is going to enhance your career. She has been something of a leper.”
Well, she has her big mouth husband to thank for that. But what I want to know is she being swept out with the other rogue nut jobs who are currently undermining our war effort? Did she and her friends finally get caught?
We shall see. If she lays low and quiet it means she barely dodged some serious charges. If she comes out looking for another 15 minutes of Plame fame, then who knows. My bet is her 5 year old twins are more important than Bush being President, and that Joe is heading out the door to face his own future.
UPDATE:
Mac Ranger points out Valerie basically left this summer. And adds the probable Hollywood golden parachute.
Plame Out!
Via Michelle Malkin the LA Times reports that Valerie Plame is leaving the CIA (she left in the Summer actually), to move on with life…..
I read (no link! DAMN!) that she had cut a deal with the CIA to get in 20 years with the Agency for Retirement Benefits. I shall try to find where I read that.
Can she sue the CIA when she retires? A civil suit?
Crap I have read on the Lefty Blogs…..
OK, Here is the link from a NY Post article on November 29, 2005:
A smidge:
“Friends and colleagues told The Post the leak scandal forced Plame, mother of 5-year-old twins, to leave the CIA early because the exposure effectively ended her spying career. …
She had posed as an energy consultant for a Boston-based front company.
She remained at the CIA for the past year in order to be eligible for a full government pension.
“She doesn’t know yet what she will do other than to devote herself 100 percent to the twins. I think she always wanted to keep going — doing both. She loved her work,” longtime friend Jane Honikman said. “
“But her life was turned upside down. She was going into work and nobody was talking to her,” Honikman said.
Well if Plame did do a lot of leaking and undermining of the Bush administration, there would certainly be no reason for her to stop after leaving the CIA. Just imagine all the things she knows and could leak to the press. Cutting her loose might be a big mistake. Of course, she could be charged with leaking secrets like that, but since the press doesn’t care about leaking national security information (well, when Bush isn’t supposedly behind it), who’s going to stop her?
Wasn’t the reason she was put behind a desk at Langley due to exposure of her identity by Aldrich Ames?
I don’t recall the sources on that – multiple, and they may have been media and blog repeats of the same first source – but a couple of months ago, that seemed to be a general understanding.
MerryJ1,
Yes, there is a strong indication she was sent stateside due to Aldrich Ames. But that would be her in the field career being over. For her to lose her ability to work at Langley means she is being shunned by her co-workers. Which is a bit of a surprise.
I am heartened to think the majority of the CIA are the patriotic warriors they once were many decades ago.
Merryj1,
According to this article in the Washington Times:
“The identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame was compromised twice before her name appeared in a news column that triggered a federal illegal-disclosure investigation, U.S. officials say.
Mrs. Plame’s identity as an undercover CIA officer was first disclosed to Russia in the mid-1990s by a Moscow spy, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
In a second compromise, officials said a more recent inadvertent disclosure resulted in references to Mrs. Plame in confidential documents sent by the CIA to the U.S. Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy in Havana.
The documents were supposed to be sealed from the Cuban government, but intelligence officials said the Cubans read the classified material and learned the secrets contained in them, the officials said.”
And it all took place before the year 2000…
Oops. here is the link.
It could be a publicity stunt in anticipation for a civil suit against Bush!! No one would ever believe that Bush had an affair, so this is the next best thing for an embarrassing trial.
Revenge for Clinton’s problems!!
SBD
SBD, I saw your posts over at Swift Boat Vets. Nice place to hang out.
AJStrata
Or it could be getting too HOT in DC this winter!
AJ–
Here is today’s (December 6, 2005) article from the italian media on” Nigergate.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1535074/posts
The last sentence of the December 6, 2005 Italian article says about the Niger documents:
“The dossier was not produced in Rome, it was catapulted into the ‘eternal city’ from another country, one which the joint SISMI-FBI will be examining in order to expose the facts once and for all.”
I am glad the FBI is really looking into the origins of these documents.
I am getting sick of all these forged documents.
The countries and individuals who were really getting a lot of money from Saddam were the ones who didn’t want us to go to war. The article hints that France is the culprit, but it is vague about the details.
“Counterespionage activities have already begun and the FBI will now take part in them. [Woo hoo!]
The Bureau has been criticised for not having interrogated Rocco Martino while he was in the United States. The freelance spy arrived in the USA in somewhat unusual circumstances with the help and assistance of a group of individuals who – to all intents, effects and purposes – planned his ‘disappearance’ from Italy while he was under observation and the investigators were preparing to interrogate him.”
Good Call Snap. Parlez Vous Francais? Actually I think they came directly from Niger at the French’s insistence and assistance.
This is good stuff. I want to know- how involved was some members of the Democratic party. Their level of insane rhetoric has reached a very high level over the last few months (and we are basically between elections). It reeks of desperation. Keep in mind Wilson’s stint with Kerry during the election and the fact that the DNC seemed to know something about the forged documents before they became pubilc. Plus all of these hideous “leaks” concerning secret prisons.